Notation System
This site has been designed with the aim of recording and sharing the treasures of a musical heritage that is still alive and well. With that idea in mind, I was inspired by the efforts of Bor, J. et al. (2002) to present a notation system that could be suitable for musicians who are accustomed to read staff notation as well as for those who are used to Indian notation. The scores presented here are not provided as models to be reproduced identically, they are essentially meant to facilitate the preservation and the analysis of the musical material.
Rāga Gorakh Kalyāṇa : name of the raga.
Madhyalaya : Tempo of the composition. Here a medium tempo (madhyalaya) played at 180 BPM.
Tīntāla : Rhythmic cycle. Here a 16 beats cycle (tīntāla) divided into 4 mesures of 4 beats..
Every rhythmic cycle (tāla) contains strong beats (tālī) and empty beats (khālī). The first beat of any rhythmic cycle is called sama. It marks the end of a full cycle (avartana) and the beginning of another one. In notation, the sama is represented by an "X", the other strong beats are represented by a digit and empty beats by a "0". When listening, the sama and the other strong beats of the cycle are marked with a clap while the empty beats are marked with a wave, palm facing up. In this example in tīntāla, the tālī are on beats 1, 5 and 13 and the khālī on beat 9.
We should note that rūpaktāla, a 7 beats rhythmic cycle, starts on an empty beat (khālī). The first beat (sama) of this rhythmic cycle is then represented by a "0" and marked with a wave.
Repeat signs indicates a section of the composition that can be played repeatedly. This is usually the first phrase of the gata, named mukhḍā (from the term mukha: "mouth", "face"). Some gata are structured in two sections: the sthāī which covers the low and middle octaves (mandra and madhya spataka) and the antarā which covers the medium and high octaves (madhya and tāra saptaka). For these gata, the first phrase of the antarā is also played several times. In the example here, the mukhḍā starts on the 4th beat and unfolds until the 3rd beat of the next cycle; the first phrase of the antarā begins on the 12th beat and unfolds until the 11th beat of the next cycle.
The division of the measures (vibhāga) is represented here with a line that crosses the entire score as it is usually in the Indian notation system. This may help to illustrates the fact that, even if the music should be read from left to right, it is always the same rhythmic cycle that repeats itself in a loop from beginning to end.
The letters under the score correspond to the first letter of the name of each svara (Sa, Re, Ga, ma, Pa, Dha, Ni). The śuddha svara (pure notes) are written with a capital letter while the komala svara (altered note) are in lowercase; except for ma which is in lowercase for its śuddha form and with a capital letter for its tivra form (sharp). All scores are transposed to C, so that Sa corresponds to C. In these circumstances, the symbol "♭" is applied to komala svara and the symbol "♯" to tivra Ma. A dot under the letter indicates that the svara is in the mandra saptaka (lower octave), a dot above indicates that it is in the tāra saptaka (upper octave).
A line after the letter indicates a prolongation of the previous svara;
it also indicates a silence in the case of slow tempos (vilambita) compositions.
When there is more than one note per beat, letters and lines are grouped together with a curved underline.
